Advice on how to adopt a healthier lifestyle

But what do other famous figures in the world of health and exercise advise?

We caught up with some of the biggest names in fitness to find out their advice for adopting a healthier lifestyle – and, you’ll be pleased to know, none of them said giving up chocolate!

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Joe Wicks

Personal trainer Joe Wicks – aka The Body Coach – became one of the UK’s main figureheads for fitness thanks to a huge social media following, with fans hooked on his quick recipes and live-streamed workouts.

He says the main thing you need to remember when it comes to getting fitter is that you can’t out-train a bad diet.

‘People can spend hours and hours in the gym but then don’t get the results they want, and that’s because they aren’t fuelling their body correctly’ he says.

‘If you eat right you will have the energy you need to properly refuel your body after a workout and in-between – you’ll feel great and will be able to maximise your training because you’ll have the right types of foods inside you.’

He also advises ditching the scales, saying that too many people use this as a ‘go-to measurement of success.’

‘I always tell people to throw away the sad step!’ he says. ‘It does no good - the best thing to measure your progress is by taking monthly photos of your body so you can see the difference you are making.

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'You may weigh exactly the same as you did last month, or the month before, but your body composition could have totally changed. If you hop on the scales to measure success you won’t see this.'

Girl Gains

Girl Gains is the brainchild of fitness bloggers Tally Rye, Zanna Van Dijk and Victoria Spence, and states its goal is to ‘unite women and inspire them to become fitter, healthier and happier’.

So where do we start? Well, the team recommend initially making small daily changes rather than trying to implement a drastic overhaul to your eating habits or fitness regime.

‘Switch your second coffee for a large glass or water, or get off the bus a stop earlier and walk the rest of the way home’ they suggest.

By building up these small changes gradually, they say you can create ‘healthy habits which last, leading to long term results’.

Madeleine is a nutritionist who has over 260k Instagram followers lapping up her healthy but tasty recipes (we’re glad to see Shaw does desserts too, including chocolate ganache cake!)

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Her number one tip for healthier cooking is to eat more seasonally – advice that’s particularly prevalent given the rising price of imported food.

‘Eating seasonally is a good way to save money while still eating healthily’ says Madeleine. ‘I recommend trying a new vegetable a week – this will help you fall in love with cooking and new foods’.

James Duigan

James Duigan is the man behind Bodyism, the gym that gets supermodels and celebrities into shape.

The fitness trainer recommends avoiding restrictive diets and instead focusing on eating in a way that is ‘kind to yourself’.

‘Any change that happens in your body happens in your mind first’ he says. ‘Don’t go on a diet – be more powerful than that. When you recognise your own self-worth, the choices you make will immediately be more beneficial.

‘Choose foods which energise, nourish and motivate yourself, rather than thinking about what you can’t have’ he advises.

Healthy Chef Steph, aka Steph Elswood, is a big campaigner for body confidence and has a huge following for her tasty-looking food posts and funny quotes.

She says fitness newbies should avoid the pitfall of assuming exercise is all about quantity over quality.

‘You don’t have to be in the gym for four hours on a cross trainer to get fit and healthy’ she tells us. ‘You can smash a session in 20 minutes, breaking into a huge sweat and feeling like you’ve worked really hard in the process.’

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However, she does emphasize the importance of regular exercise and doing something you love. ‘Consistency is key, there is no point doing something that makes you miserable if you’re just going to give up the next week’.

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